Vibration mount
A vibration mount having a body for coupling to an object to be supported by the vibration mount, a flexible member forming a foot on the body and together with the body, forming a chamber therein, a center member within the chamber and coupled to move in unison with the body, a valve having a first valve member coupled to move in unison with the central member and a second valve member coupled to move in unison with the flexible member, a connection for coupling air under pressure to the chamber through the valve member, and a vent for venting the chamber though the valve. The valve couples air under pressure from the connection to the chamber when the first and second valve members are in a first relative position, couples air in the chamber to the vent when the first and second valve members are in a second position, and does not couple air under pressure from the connection to the chamber or couple air in the chamber to the vent when the first and second valve members are between the first and second positions.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of vibration mounts.
2. Prior Art
The preferred embodiments of the present invention are intended for support of a shaker and attached test objects used to vibration test said objects, as well as general vibration isolation of structures as may be facilitated by low spring rate gas mounts, including but not limited to vibration testing in an environmental chamber.
Vibration mounts of various designs and for various purposes are well known in the prior art. In vibration mounts in general, it is desired to support a load with a low spring rate support to decouple the vibration of the load from the object the vibration mount is supported on, or to decouple the vibration of the object the vibration mount is supported on from the load, or in some cases to simply decouple the two vibration sources. Either way, the low spring rate is particularly important to isolate low frequency vibration, as the amplitude of a vibration of a given g level is inversely proportional to the frequency of the vibration. Static pressure air mounts are available for this purpose, with the inherent severe limitations of high static displacements and positional instability associated with the low spring rates and variable loading of these mounts. Any mount that reaches a limit of its travel in use, creates noise and injects higher frequencies and irregular vibrations, all counter to the purpose of the vibration mount. A simple, individually self leveling mount is desirable for many gas mount requirements. These requirements are not limited to vibration test, as they also apply to other applications as well, such as, by way of example, to isolate structures from floor or table borne vibrations as required by optical test benches.
In the case of the support of a shaker, various types of rubber mounts are used. Such mounts are satisfactory when resting on a rigid surface. However, because of the variation in the weight of various objects being tested, the combined weight of a object being tested and the shaker can vary significantly. Consequently, prior art vibration mounts for shakers tend to be somewhat stiff so as to not bottom out, so to speak, when testing heavy objects at low frequencies.
In one specific application, the floor panel in environmental test chambers is in general not rigid. In particular, the floor panel may be supported only along its edges, or if additional supports are provided, such supports are generally so limited as to not provide a rigid floor in other areas of the environmental chamber floor. Consequently, when a shaker is used in an environmental chamber with prior art vibration mounts, such as four mounts in a square pattern, one or more of those mounts will support the shaker more rigidly than the others. This has an adverse affect on the performance of the shaker, in that the support of the shaker is effectively displaced toward the more rigidly supported vibration mounts, injecting unintentional transverse vibration and rotational vibration perpendicular to axis the axis of the shaker, in addition to the intended linear vibration of the item under test along the axis of the shaker.
First referring to
In
The center member 30 has a hole 40 through the top thereof which extends into the lower portion 42 of the center member 30, with a hole 44 coupling the hole 40 through the inside wall of the center of the center member. Hole 44 is drilled through the entire wall of the center member 30, with the hole between hole 40 and the outer diameter of the center member 30 being plugged by plug 46. There are also two additional holes 48 and 50 spaced at different vertical elevations from hole 44 that merely couple the chamber 51 to the inside of the center member 30. Finally, a rigid (metal) tube 53 is pressed into hole 40 in the center member 30, with flexible tubing 56 (see also
Referring again to
When air under pressure is supplied through flexible tubing 56 as shown in
If for some reason more air enters chamber 51 than is needed to support plate 26 and the shaker or the test load weight is reduced, flexible member 34 will deflect further, opening a flow passage from chamber 51 through holes 48 and 60 to vent the excess air (higher pressure air than is needed). Of course when the shaker is on, plate 26 will be vibrating up and down, which vibration at low frequencies can have a substantial amplitude. If during that vibration, O-ring 54 momentarily extends above hole 44, as shown in
It should noted from
Now referring to
The common aspect of these and other embodiments of the present invention is the flexible members 34 and 68 enclosing a lower part of a chamber, which flexible members form a foot for the vibration mount and have ample freedom to deflect vertically to support whatever is mounted on the vibration mount when coupled to a source of air under adequate pressure, and which incorporate a valve member that cooperates with a mating valve member which moves with whatever is supported by the vibration mount to couple additional air to the chamber when needed and to vent excess air from the chamber, also when need be. The preferred form of valve is a form of spool valve as illustrated in drawings and as described herein.
Accordingly, the present invention vibration mounts will provide a low spring rate support for a load to decouple the vibration of the load from the object the vibration mount is supported on, or to decouple the vibration of the object the vibration mount is supported on from the load, or in some cases to simply decouple the two vibration sources. They will also automatically seek their proper operating level regardless of the load and vibration excursion within their range of travel.
Thus while certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed and described herein for purposes of illustration and not for purposes of limitation, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A vibration mount comprising:
- a body for coupling to an object to be supported by the vibration mount;
- a flexible member forming a foot on the body and together with the body, forming a chamber therein;
- a center member extending within the chamber and coupled to move in unison with the body;
- a valve having a first valve member coupled to move in unison with the center member and a second valve member coupled to move in unison with the flexible member;
- a connection for coupling air under pressure to the chamber through the valve; and,
- a vent for venting the chamber though the valve;
- the valve coupling air under pressure from the connection to the chamber when the first and second valve members are in a first relative position, to couple air in the chamber to the vent when the first and second valve members are in a second position, and to not couple air under pressure from the connection to the chamber or couple air in the chamber to the vent when the first and second valve members are between the first and second positions.
2. The vibration mount of claim 1 wherein the valve is a spool valve having a spool valve housing and a spool.
3. The vibration mount of claim 2 wherein the center member is the valve housing and an upward projection on the flexible member is the spool.
4. The vibration mount of claim 3 wherein the center member has a generally cylindrical opening extending upward from a lower end thereof, and wherein the upward projection on the flexible member extends into the generally cylindrical opening and has seal rings thereon to seal against the generally cylindrical opening, the center member having holes therein to couple air under pressure from the connection to the chamber, to couple air in the chamber to the vent, or to not couple air under pressure from the connection to the chamber or air in the chamber to the vent, depending on the position of the ring seals with respect to the holes in the center member.
5. The vibration mount of claim 4 wherein the upward projection on the flexible member has three seal rings thereon distributed along it height, and the center member has at least two holes through an inner diameter of the generally cylindrical opening, the first hole defining a flow path from the connection for coupling air under pressure to the chamber when the upward projection is in its most upward position with respect to the center member, the third seal ring opening a flow path between the chamber and the vent when the upward projection is above the range of normal operating positions with respect to the center member, and the first seal ring blocking the connection for coupling air under pressure to the chamber through the first hole, the second seal ring blocking flow from the connection for coupling air under pressure to the chamber through the second hole and the third seal ring blocking the flow path between the chamber and the vent when the upward projection is in a range of normal operating positions with respect to the center member.
6. The vibration mount of claim 1 wherein the flexible member is a molded silicone rubber flexible member.
7. The vibration mount of claim 6 wherein the valve is a spool valve having a spool valve housing and a spool, the center member being the valve housing and an upward projection on the flexible member being the spool, the upward projection on the flexible member being integrally molded thereon.
8. A vibration mount comprising:
- a body;
- a flexible member forming a foot on the body and together with the body, forming a chamber therein;
- a center member within the chamber and coupled to the body to move in unison with the body, the body and center member for coupling to an object to be supported by the vibration mount and to move in unison therewith;
- the center member defining a spool valve body;
- the flexible member having an upward projection integrally molded thereon forming a spool fitting within the spool valve body to form a spool valve;
- a connection for coupling air under pressure to the spool valve body; and,
- a vent for venting the chamber though the center member;
- the spool valve coupling air under pressure from the connection to the chamber when the spool and spool valve body are in a first relative position, coupling air in the chamber to the vent when the spool and spool valve body are in a second relative position, and to not couple air under pressure from the connection to the chamber or couple air in the chamber to the vent when the spool and spool valve body are between the first and second relative positions.
9. The vibration mount of claim 8 wherein the center member has a generally cylindrical opening extending upward from a lower end thereof, and wherein the upward projection on the flexible member extends into the generally cylindrical opening and has seal rings integrally thereon to seal against the generally cylindrical opening, the center member having holes therein to couple air under pressure from the connection to the chamber, to couple air in the chamber to the vent or not couple air in the chamber to the vent depending on the position of the ring seals with respect to the holes in the center member.
10. The vibration mount of claim 9 wherein the upward projection on the flexible member has three seal rings thereon distributed along it height, and the center member has at least two holes through an inner diameter of the generally cylindrical opening, the first hole defining a flow path from the connection for coupling air under pressure to the chamber when the upward projection is in its most upward position with respect to the center member, the third seal ring opening a flow path between the chamber and the vent when the upward projection is above the range of normal operating positions with respect to the center member, and the first seal ring blocking the connection for coupling air under pressure to the chamber through the first hole, the second seal ring blocking flow from the connection for coupling air under pressure to the chamber through the second hole and the third seal ring blocking the flow path between the chamber and the vent when the upward projection is in a range of normal operating positions with respect to the center member.
11. The vibration mount of claim 10 wherein the flexible member, upward projection and the seal rings are a molded silicone rubber flexible member.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Nov 9, 2010
Date of Patent: Oct 22, 2013
Assignee: Labworks, Inc. (Costa Mesa, CA)
Inventor: Gary C. Butts (Huntington Beach, CA)
Primary Examiner: Steven Marsh
Application Number: 12/942,843
International Classification: F16M 1/00 (20060101); F16F 5/00 (20060101);